Historical sepia photograph of John Lane, inventor of the steel plow, wearing Victorian-era clothing.
Stone memorial plaque on a brick wall dedicated to John Lane, who made the first steel plow in 1833 on this farm.
Vintage illustration of a mole draining plow with a man guiding oxen, set in a rural landscape with trees, a house, and a mountain in the background.

“In Will County, Illinois, lived a famous blacksmith, John Lane, especially noted for his breaking-plows. “On many and many an acre of Will County,” wrote the pioneer historian [Rev. Alfred Bronson], “did Lane’s plows upturn the sod, drawn by four to eight yoke of oxen and steers and propelled by a ten-foot ox-gad mounted with a lash perhaps as long, the snap of which wielded by the Hoosier driver resounded like the crack of a rifle. On, on, over the prairie swells, with steady but ruthless tread, moved the long breaking team; and on, on, came the giant plow, cutting the turf with its sharp coulter, and turning over with its mold-board the rich earth in long, black ribbons; before it blooming and fragrant herb and beautiful flowers; behind it a dreary waste of black, fat humus, inviting the steps and stimulating the hopes of the sturdy planter. Ah! Breaking teams, plows, Hoosier drivers, prairies, and old Lane himself are now things of the past!””

(Chicago’s Highways Old and New, 1923).

Title page of a book: 'Woodland and Prairie Settlement in Illinois' by William D. Walters and Jonathan Smith, published in 1992, with a crumpled paper background.
A forest scene with a dirt path surrounded by green trees and foliage.
Text overlay on snowy woodland scene discussing historical timber and land use in Illinois, with snow-covered trees in the background.
A forest scene with trees and moss-covered ground overlaid with black text discussing the importance of woodland groves in Illinois.
Sunlight filtering through tall trees in a green forest with a dirt path
A dirt path leading to a wooden cabin in a dense forest of tall trees with a mix of green foliage and bare branches, under a cloudy sky.
A forest scene with trees and fallen autumn leaves, with a quote about Northern and Central Illinois and farming.
A landscape of a prairie with green grass and yellow flowers, trees in the background, a partly cloudy sky overhead, and an overlaid text discussing the history of prairie development in Illinois.